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G2-18 Falling Water
G2-18 Falling Water
2018
Brian Clarke’s stained glass screen Falling Water features a cluster of yellow narcissus flowers along its upper edge. Developing from Clarke's Daffodils series of watercolours, the screen transforms the expressive qualities of watercolour into glass, capturing both the delicacy of the blooms and the dynamic, dripping technique that characterises the original watercolours.
In the 2020 catalogue Brian Clarke: The Art of Light, Paul Greenhalgh writes:
"Falling Water is deceptively simple. Clustered flower heads in the three upper screens are supported by spindly, tentative stems, which run down through the bottom six panels, making an asymmetric linear pattern. At first glimpse, it all feels somewhat fin de siècle – tall stems were a common Secessionist theme – but at the same time, these feel like long drips of water, pouring steeply downwards. The title references the house by the great Frank Lloyd Wright that is a short drive from Pittsburgh in the USA. Famously perched over a cascading waterfall, the house is one of the most inspirational pieces of domestic architecture of the last two centuries. Perhaps Clarke is also recognising Wright’s pioneering designs in stained glass."
In 2019, Falling Water was utilised as an integral part of the of stage set and lighting for the first public performance for Ante Terminum Productions’s War is My Condition, an interpretation of Monteverdi’s opera scena Il combattimento di Tancredi e Clorinda. It was joined by two of Clarke’s other stained glass screens, Winter and Grief.
This folding screen was produced with an innovative technique that eliminates the lead cames traditionally used to support and join stained glass, allowing the glass to interact freely with light and space. Falling Water exists in an edition of 10 unique variants plus 3 artist’s proofs, published by HENI.